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<font face="Times New Roman, Times" size=5><b>National Emergency
March<br>
</b>When: Saturday August 12, 2006 at 11:00 am<br>
Where: Civic Center, San Francisco<br><br>
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Statement of the National Council of Arab-Americans<br>
On the Occasion of the National Demonstrations of August 12, 2006<br>
"Occupation is a Crime, From Lebanon, Iraq, to Palestine"<br>
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<font face="Verdana" size=2> August 10,
2006</font><font size=3> <br><br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=2><b><i>There are no words to describe
the barbaric cruelty being inflicted upon the people of Lebanon,
Palestine, and Iraq today.</i></b> The ongoing onslaught evidenced by the
mass killing, maiming, imprisoning, and torturing of thousands of Arabs
at the hands of the US-Israeli war machine has become a daily affair,
sanitized by the US corporate media as though it were a natural part of
the universal order. The most recent unleashing of premeditated ferocious
military campaigns against the people of Lebanon and Palestine, with
their clear targeting of civilian infrastructure, and their desire to
collapse and eradicate democratically elected movements who do not bend
to their will, represents an affront to the values of all civilized
humanity. These campaigns are possible only when the lives of Arabs and
Muslims are deemed to have no moral equivalency to those of Americans or
Israelis. In short, these are war crimes, facilitated by the ugliest
forms of racism, and intended to widen US and Zionist hegemonic interests
in the region.<br><br>
<b><i>But the Arab people are not merely passive victims in these
endeavors.</i></b> The heroic resistance waged by the organically grown,
popular movements in these localities against the most sophisticated
military technology in the world is truly inspirational. It represents an
affirmation that the Arab people, like all other people in the world,
have the right to their lands, homes and resources; that they have the
right to self-determination; and, that they have a right to resist a
savage colonial occupation that seeks to divide and rule them, whether
directly or through collaborating proxy regimes. Ultimately, the forces
of injustice and inhumanity will not triumph over those who still hold
that there are things in this world more valuable than the profit margins
of US oil companies and multinational corporations.<br><br>
This is precisely why the US government has not only 'given the green
light' to Israeli state terror, but is actively facilitating this terror
by bountifully supplying it with diplomatic immunity, weaponry, and fuel,
all paid for by the US taxpayer. These US- equipped campaigns are
designed to snuff out the flames of resistance, yet history tells us that
these attempts have failed in the past and will fail in the
future.<br><br>
</font><font size=3><b><i>
<a href="http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=sw77pxbab.0.8w87ixbab.g4bqvpbab.1084&ts=S0201&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.arab-american.net%2Fcommunity%2Flebanon%2Faugust122006%2Fbody_august122006.html">
On August 12, 2006</a></font><font face="Verdana" size=2>, thousands
across America will take a stand to say no to the crime of occupation,
and no to US and Zionist designs for the Middle East.</i></b> They will
also gather to say that nothing can hide the blood dripping from the
hands of the Republican and Democratic parties, and that this will not be
forgotten as we return to our communities and engage in activism through
social justice, and later on, at the voting polls. Moreover, it must be
noted that those in the US anti-war/ peace movement, who have
persistently argued that the question of Palestine, and the nature of
Zionism are not worthy issues to be included in its agenda, have
indirectly facilitated the atrocities that we are witnessing
today.<br><br>
<b><i>Valuable time and energy have been wasted, and Israeli belligerence
has thrived as claims that issues of the national liberation of Palestine
and the right of return for Palestinian refugees were somehow
"different," "complicated," or
"restrictive."</i></b>
<a href="http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=sw77pxbab.0.8w87ixbab.g4bqvpbab.1084&ts=S0201&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.arab-american.net%2Fcommunity%2Flebanon%2Faugust122006%2Fbody_august122006.html">
Today we see the true face of Israeli terror, and the inseparability of
the issue of occupation in Palestine, Lebanon, or Iraq, and the
uniformity of the causes and results of such acts. So the time has come
for the US and international peace and justice movement to take a clear
and unabashed stance against Zionism and the racist, colonialist regime
of Israel. We stress: Zionism is not compatible with justice, human
rights, peace or genuine solidarity.</a><br><br>
<b><i>Further, it must also be stated that all those who bet against the
resistance--including pro-US Arab regimes and their auxiliary wings
amongst Arab- American communities in the US -- should also be exposed
for their despicable collaborative stances.<br><br>
Let August 12, 2006, be the day when a new and principled US anti-war
movement is born</i></b> ; a day when our solidarity with the oppressed
is affirmed; when the right to resist is defended; when connections
between movements here and abroad for social causes and political justice
are forged; and when the forces of racism, colonialism, and imperialism
are forthrightly rejected. Only by doing so can we hope to put an end to
the intolerable suffering we witness not only in Lebanon, Palestine and
Iraq, but also amongst so many of the poor and disenfranchised in America
as well.<br>
</font><font face="Verdana" size=3><b>Support the People of Lebanon,
Palestine and Iraq!<br>
Support the Right of Return of all Refugees!<br>
Stop US Aid to Israel!<br>
Support Divestment from Israel and Boycott all Israeli Products!<br><br>
</b></font><font face="Verdana" size=2>NCA National Office<br>
National Council of Arab Americans (NCA)<br>
<br>
email:</font><font size=3>
</font><a href="mailto:nationaloffice@arab-american.net">
<font face="Verdana" size=2>nationaloffice@arab-american.net</a><br>
phone: 530.756.5548<br>
web:</font><font size=3>
<a href="http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=sw77pxbab.0.qcizvpbab.g4bqvpbab.1084&ts=S0201&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.arab-american.net">
http://www.arab-american.net</a><br>
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